Decentralized Web Summit pt.8: Some Impressions

See Part 1
See Part 2
See Part 3
See Part 4
See Part 5
See Part 6
See Part 7

FWIW, these are my impressions.

There is a lot of data being moved or stored – or applications being produced to move and store data – in a secure and private manner. Somehow this impression makes me think of boys and fast cars. Not so much is being discussed about being able to find it again. Not much talk of metadata or finding aids. Of course, finding aids point to a location, which can compromise privacy.

Bitcoin is a big deal in this crowd, which is interesting since my experience comes from one CSI episode and some references I have read. I have no idea how to even buy bitcoin. I looked it up and found that you can’t even find the value without signing up with a bank that has bitcoin. So much for privacy.

There was a lot said about bringing some of these apps to the browser, because the browser was more universal. Having to install programs/software/applications is a barrier.

Women were present, and Primavera De Filippi even spoke, as did Mitchell Baker. Most of the audience and presenters were men with beards and t-shirts. As I said, only Vint Cerf wore a suit. The men weren’t, however, the stereotypical computer geek. Many of them had, or were working on PhDs and could talk intelligently in front of an audience.

There doesn’t seem to be any thought given to making any of these tools, applications, ideas available in anyway to the commercial world. If there was some common ground found or some small way that commercial entities could use some of these tools, they might get a wider audience.

There is a role for librarians if we make ourselves known to this segment of the Internet community and keep harping about access, findability and metadata.

Check back. I may add more impressions.

Listen/watch the video of the whole conference for more detail and more information.

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